Saturday 1 October 2011

TENT LONDON 2011

Tent London is now one of the big boys of the London Design Festival. Even though it has tripled in size and now includes Superbrands, which featured global brands like Moroso and Swarovski, the show still retains it's original premise of showcasing original and directional design. The result? The most inspiring and exciting show this side of Saturn.
I was particularly impressed by the plethora of textiles. Every breed was represented, from weave to print, knit to crochet. There was even the odd bit of passementerie. Ta dah.


Naomi Paul's sculptural crochet lampshades



What I loved about Suzanne Goodwins vibrant, abstract florals was that she hadn't gone down the ubiquitous retro/vintage route that a lot of print designers seem to be doing at the moment, so her textiles bounced from her stand with a delicious freshness.


Jo Prices inventive,colorful and quirky upholstery.


Serene prints from Original Little Bird.


Annabel Williams' interesting weaves. 


Happy prints and wallpaper from The Colourhouse.


One of Abigail Edwards' opulent wallpapers.


Exquisite engraved glass from Heather Gillespie.


Anthony Hartley's candy stripe furniture was good enough to eat.





Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm not a phone person. If I reply to a text within a week it's a miracle, but Justadzero's bamboo phones were so beautiful that they may change my habits. 


I have a bit of a vested interest in Curiousa & Curiousa as the tassel on the right comes from yours truly.


Jessica Light Trims and Tassels again had a very successful show. This year we took a much bigger corner stand which really showed off our products. Our two new collections, Bexley and Newport  received great feedback from both trade and press.


The Bexley Collection



The Newport Collection

We also re-showed Hampstead which we launched at last year's Tent. We added a new colourway and designs along side one of our signature looks: dip-dying.
We started the dip-dye look while working on Giles Deacons 2004 Spring/Summer collection and first showed dip-dyed fringes and tassels at Tent 2008. Since then it has become an integral part of our collections.


The Hampstead Collection

Our stand attracted some high caliber visitors especially Tricia Guild of Designers Guild whose work I've admired for a long time. We also had the managing director of Lelievre, the design manager from Blendworth and Gary Searle from St Leger and Viney one of the biggest interior companies in South Africa on the stand.
With interest from interior designers to carpet manufacturers it was a busy four days and the icing on the cake was being awarded one of the best stands at the London Design Festival by House and Garden magazine.





More images from our stand.

It was great to catch up with the regular Tentites, especially those gorgeous Mini Modern boys and the ever effervescent Miss Margate, Zoe Murphy, and meet the new recruits. Then it was over and we all toddled off to our respective corners of the world


Big Thank You
To:
Everyone who visited my stand.
Gabi, Olivia, Ruth, Florence and Jennifer from House and Garden.
Rachel and Jimmy. 
PR Girl.
My fantastic intern Katie Davis.